Friday, May 26, 2023

Kittens can count.... puppies can''t.

 



Kittens can tell the difference between a small quantity and a large one, like human babies can. Indeed they can do this as well as adult cats.

Human "scientists" spend their time doing all kinds of activities that we cats find pointless and sometimes upsetting. One of their tests, acceptable in that it offered food, was to see if a kitten would choose a larger number of food items over a smaller number.

In order not to give any human clues to the kittens, these "scientists" wore dark glasses, masks to cover their nose and mouth and stared at the wall.

It makes you wonder what the kittens thought of this very odd human behaviour. However, like sensible little animals they got on the job they were given and chose the larger portion.

Did they count up the food pieces? No, why would a sensible feline, young or old, bother with this. They just looked and chose the larger amount of food.

Puppies cannot do this, showing yet again how the feline superiority over mere dogs.

 


  • Get your human to read this book...

Monday, May 22, 2023

The way cats live in Serbia

 


My human has come back with information about the lifestyle of a Serbian cat named Radosh. He has what humans (idiots that they are) call an "owner," Darko.

Radosh's life is completely different from mine. I am kept indoors all the time and fussed over by my human. Radosh leads an extraordinarily free life.

Indeed,Darko, unlike my human, does not interfere in Radosh's life very much, except to feed him when he turns up. 

Radosh has never had the operation that changed me into a home-loving cat! He has all his bits.

In winter Radosh disappears completely. Last summer he turned up again fat and healthy but the summer before he turned up looking thin and not very well. 

Where had he been? It remains a mystery.

Darko has not the slightest idea. 

Is Radosh like an unfaithful human husband, two-timing Darko with another human? Purrhaps.

In the mountains of the Balkan nation of Serbia, cats live differently, apparently, from the way we cats in the UK live now.

I think we have a better lifestyle but we do miss out on adventure, hunting and love.


Saturday, May 13, 2023

Black cats matter too.


There is something odd about humans and thier attitude towards colour. They don't seem to like the colour black - which is why beautiful black cats stay longer in rescue shelters.

This colour prejudice means that my fellow cats, who just happen to be black, are ignored or even passed over by would-be human adopters.

Let's be clear. Black cats are as beautiful and mysterious and affectionate as any other coloured cat. They deserve a loving home. So help them get it.

Don't let your human be part of the problem. Puursuade them to spread the word and become part of the solution.

Black cats matter!


  • My human is being boring and insisted on adding this pictures of "her" book. She just typed the manuscript when my paws got sore. All the worthwhile content is mine.


Saturday, May 06, 2023

No cats at the Coronation!

There are no cats at the British coronation. Not a whisker of one. 

 Larry the famous Downing St cat was not invited to Westminster Abbey. Neither was Palmerston of the Foreign Office invited out of retirement for the occasion.

Attlee, the new cat who has adopted the Speaker at the House of Commons will also be absent. His pet, Sir Lindsey Hoyle, however, will attend in his place.

Rumour has it that there is no place for any feline at Buckingham Palace for one good reason. Dogs will pledge allegiance any day even if it is in return for a biscuit. 

Cats won't. They don't do loyalty. Felines are republicans. They grovel to nobody. Canines are loyal royalists.

Remember the Civil War, when we cut off the head of Charles the First? 

Who's for doing it again, fellow felines?

Saturday, April 29, 2023

Graveyards are feline parks.


Thank the God of cats for cemeteries. For cats who live in urban areas, graveyards and cemeteries are parks - green spaces in a wilderness of brick and concrete. We can wander in these spaces without the fear of harassment from angry gardeners.

Of course, they are not entirely animal or wildlife sanctuaries, due to human obsessive neatness. They will mow the lawn down to the roots. They also persist in leaving trashy plastic flowers instead of the real thing. Poor ignorant beings.


But for cats, if not for other wildlife, there are trees and short grass and the flatter old tombstones make a nice resting place. I prefer the older tombs, myself, as there is less human disturbance in the older areas.

There is almost always a church nearby - a place where there is shelter from the rain if only in a porch. I myself have attended the occasional funeral, to the amazement and delight of the mourners.

My friend, Jake, used to haunt a church in the hope that a friendly human would adopt him. Finally, as he lay almost dying just outside the porch under the yew tree, a kindly lady picked him up and took him home.

For the graveyard - as some those humans whose tombs I use also believed -- was the start of a happier life.

 


  • She's written a book ....  She'd like me to keep putting this on the blog. But I tell her she can only have smaller text!! There are limits to her purrsistence desire for publicity.

Help for cats whose humans show behaviour problems.

This blog is devoted to the study of human behaviour. We cats, who live with this sometimes unpredictable and always feeble minded species, can benefit from seeing their behaviour in its proper scientific context. The study of feline dilemmas, training problems, and difficulties with humans, can only benefit all of us. All of us train our humans - to buy the right food, for instance, but many of us do not have knowledge of how to improve our training methods. The human species is obviously not as intelligent as the cat, but nevertheless can learn quite a lot - if properly managed. Topics of interest include the use of claw and order, purring as a human reward, rubbing your human up the right way, when to bite, spraying as a method of making our wishes known, ignoring the human, human harassment, human inattention and sheer human stupidity. I welcome your questions. Photos can be sent via my secretary's website, www.celiahaddon.com This blog has been chosen as one of the top 50 feline blogs by Online VetTechprogramms.org